Give your valentine Minnesota-grown roses

Give your valentine Minnesota-grown rosesIf you're looking for roses for Valentine's Day, there are cheap or green options, but not both.

Traditionally, the cheapest option for roses is at Aldi, where six roses with greens are $4, but supplies are limited and quality is inconsistent. Other inexpensive sources in the past have been Costco, Sam's Club and Trader Joe's (about $14 to $16 a dozen last year). King's Roses (1701 E. Hennepin Av., Mpls., 612-331-3934) will be $15 per dozen this year, but nontraditional colors -- other than white, pink and red -- might be slightly less. Most of the roses are grown in Ecuador or Colombia.

If you'd rather buy Minnesota-grown roses, check Len Busch Roses' website (www.lenbuschroses.com) for a directory of more than 250 Minnesota florists that sell the Plymouth company's flowers.

Len Busch isn't certified organic and uses some commercial pesticides, but owner Patrick Busch also uses four kinds of friendly pests to keep spider mites away. His greenhouse is powered by two boilers fed a diet of tree trimmings, including trees felled by emerald ash borers. The hydroponic plants use a closed irrigation system to save on water usage.

Len Busch is the only domestic rose grower in the country outside of California. It ships roses only within a 250-mile radius. Recently, it made the delivery process greener by packing the roses delivered to florists in reusable carts rather than cardboard.

Charitable daily deal Some people might be experiencing burnout on the daily-deal websites. Besides Groupon (www.groupon.com), there are LivingSocial (www.livingsocial.com), Crowd Cut (www.crowdcut.com), Kgbdeals (www.kgbdeals.com), Daily Dealster (www.dailydealster.com), STeals (www.steals. startribune.com) and Homerun (www.homerun.com). Once you sign up, you get a daily e-mail describing the deal.

If you can't get enough, here's one more: The Blind Squirrel (www.theblindsquirrel.com) started in the Twin Cities in November with a daily discount of 20 to 90 percent off goods and services, including restaurants, spas, activities and classes. Recent deals have included discounts at Murray's restaurant and on tax preparation and home organizing. Today's offer is a half-price deal on any cheesecake from Muddy Paws; pay $16 for a $32 value.

John Ewoldt • 612-673-7633 or jewoldt@startribune.com.